More than one in 10 Cable & Wireless investors refused to back the telecoms company's remuneration report yesterday amid further criticism of its controversial executive reward scheme.

Nearly 4% of shareholders who voted at the company's annual meeting in London opposed the report and a further 8% abstained, the way many institutional investors prefer to register their disapproval.

Although there was no specific vote on the company's long-term incentive plan, the two-year-old scheme continued to draw criticism, with one shareholder branding it "greedy and unseemly".

The shareholder advisory body Pirc had recommended a vote against, on the grounds that the rewards were "excessive". It described the conditions in the incentive scheme as "vague". The Association of British Insurers had given C&W's remuneration report an "amber-top" rating - signalling that investors should carefully consider their vote.

Under the plan, John Pluthero, group managing director, could share a multimillion-pound pay bonanza with 60 other executives from next April, depending on the performance of the company's share price and the achievement of internal targets. The scheme also handed a £4.3m payoff to the international boss Harris Jones when he was ousted in November.

"It seems to me your performance is tarnished by this unseemly and greedy scheme," John Farmer told the meeting. "The company's turnaround has been tarnished by a lot of job redundancies and I wonder how you square this and the misery you have sown among those thrown out of jobs with a bonus pool for a mere 60 managers."

Lapthorne said the long-term scheme had "massive shareholder support" and was tied to the company's stockmarket performance.

"You have seen the share price go down with what's happened in the market, and bonuses have gone down with it. It's totally aligned with creating value for you, the shareholders. It's not a system that can pay for failure in any way. It's absolutely impossible for it to do so," he said.

Under the scheme, a sum worth 10% of any growth in the company's market capitalisation since March 2006 is held in a "reward pool".

Starting from April next year, Pluthero and about 60 other managers will be paid from this pool if C&W's Europe, Asia and US business and its international division both hit internal targets.

The first 75% of the reward pays out in April, with the remaining 25% due one year later.

Over the four-year period of the scheme, Pluthero's salary and maximum annual bonus have been held at £600,000 each.

When the scheme was introduced two years ago, more than one in five shareholders refused to back it. Last year when the company ditched the £20m cap on what any individual could receive, 17.5% either voted against or abstained.